Aru'e

The first attempt

Hunter nodded his understanding. "Then in that case, they wanted us to train you to become an agent of the empire."

"No," I instantly said. "The empire is sick and twisted and I don't want any part of it."

Hunter's face twisted into an unpleasant scowl. "This isn't a request. It's an order."

"You can tell your order to go up your a-" Hunter cut me off by standing up and grabbing my binders, dragging me from the cafeteria.

We ended up in an empty hallway, no one around. I tugged my wrists from his grip and glowered at him.

"What was that for?" I sneered.

"You're going to get in trouble by saying stuff like that!" Hunter hissed. "Just shut up and do as you're told! Good soldiers follow orders!"

I flinched at his words, feeling the anger filling him. I knew this wasn't something to be pushed.

"I still don't want to join the empire," I quietly said. "And you can't make me. I'll never be loyal."

Hunter drew in a deep breath and nodded. "You will."

I changed the subject. "Is there a 'fresher nearby? I really need to go."

"I'll take you there," Hunter ran a hand through his hair.

He led me there, where I held out my hands. He looked at me with an amused smile.

"You really think I'm going to uncuff you?" He laughed. "You're just gonna run away and get in trouble with a kriffing stormtrooper."

"How am I supposed to go if my hands are in binders?" I reasoned. "You can stand outside here to make sure I don't run out the door."

"Fine," Hunter grumbled.

Now my hands were free.

"Thanks!" I brightened and punched him in the gut.

He doubled over and I used his own body weight against him to push him to the floor. I grabbed the hilt of his knife and knocked him out.

"Di'kut," I muttered. "You never uncuff your prisoner."

A stormtrooper walked out of the 'fresher, whistling. They looked at the me with an unconscious Hunter at me feet and I face palmed.

 "Escaped prisoner!" They screamed before I could knock them out too.

I made quick work of them and ran for the nearest window, throwing my body weight into it.

I bounced off it.

"Come on!" I angrily shouted, but saw a blast door up ahead.

I sprinted for it, dodging stun blasts shot at me until I reached it, running outside. I ran into the forest, hoping to get as far away as possible.

I jumped over logs, waded through streams, going deeper and deeper into the woods. Eventually I was so far in it, the tree canopy blocked my view of the sun and I couldn't tell what time it was.

But I kept running, knowing that if I really wanted to be safe, I had to be as far as possible. I probably should've looked where I was going though, since I stumbled on a rock and twisted my ankle.

I angrily cursed, holding my ankle. Of course this would happen.

I had even scraped my knee and the palms of my hands falling.

I stood up and carefully tested my weight on my ankle, wincing at the pain that came with it. This wasn't ideal.

I fished the comm from my boot and contacted Rex.

"Amita? You shouldn't be contacting me when the guards could hear you. They could find your comm," Rex lectured.

"I escaped," I rolled my eyes.

"See if there's any constellations you recognize. If you know what angle you're seeing them from, we could pinpoint where you are," Rex eagerly advised.

"I can't. I twisted my ankle and the canopy is too thick to see through," I glared at my ankle.

"Take shelter," Rex said before I ended the call.

I hobbled to a nearby cave and just about collapsed in it. The humidity made my hair cling to my neck, so I brushed that out of the way.

It was getting darker, so I grabbed some big leaves to use as a cushion against the rocky cave floor. I was in for a long night.

Little did I know, I was already being tracked.

Mando'a translations:

Di'kut~~~~~ Idiot